A substantial number of newborn male infants are circumcised in North America. There is presently a heated debate about the necessity and legality of this procedure, which is deeply rooted in several religions. To the best of our knowledge, there is no country that has ruled male circumcision to be illegal, and our study was approved by the ethics board. Our group was the first to document that the pain experienced by infants undergoing circumcision affects long-term pain response in infants1
and we urged the medical community not to accept the practice of circumcision in infants without appropriate analgesia. While this debate continues, a major effort should be made to minimize or ameliorate pain in infants undergoing this and other painful procedures.